Sweet Forever

Pelacanos takes you for a trip downtown into Washington DC rarely seen by the tourists, let alone those who live in the suburbs of the nation's capitol. DC can be a mean street area but those who work and live there know that to do wrong can lead to a bad ending. Too bad the cops in this tale failed to realize they would run into the employees of a record store who live by the code of the street.

Great read for DC and those from mid-Atlantic. Especially for any fans of gritty crime. The author nails DC in a period of great uncertainty and unrest. Highly recommend. Also recommend a Firing Offense by Pellecanos.

Burned through in a couple days. Fun visiting D.C. In the 80s and the music and street level characters of the book

I liked the tie ins from previous stories. Look forward to book 4 in the D.C. series. If you like the previous books you will like this one too.

Beautifully constructed. Brilliant integration of the 1986 NCAA basketball tournament and the death of Len Bias. Possibly the best crime novel I have read. I recommend first reading "King Suckerman". It isn't as good as "The Sweet Forever" but some of the characters repeat, and reading "Suckerman" is helpful for understanding "Forever".

He knows DC, he knows Greeks, and he sure knows how to write about crime. It's raw, and you feel like you're right there watching it happen.

Pelecanos has a keen eye and ear for what motivates people, a combination of John D. McDonald and Elmore Leonard. Must be his Greek roots

If you enjoy reading Pelicanos then the Sweet forever is another good novel, similar cast as in King Suckerman later in DC.

Fan de la série The Wire, j'ai sauté sur l'occasion de lire un bouquin de l'auteur de la série.Et bien voilà c'est écrit comme une série TV et c'est bien ce qui est un peu décevant : beaucoup de dialogues, peu de mise en scène, il y a l'obligatoire scène de sexe et de violence gratuite sans qu'on comprenne ce que ça fait là, beaucoup de personnages secondaires...bref parfait pour l'adaptation tv.Mais voilà, perso j'attends plus d'un roman : une ambiance, du suspense, de l'épaisseur dans les personnages.Là ça manque clairement. Vite lu, vite oublié.

A really engrossing story, with a good cast of characters, from corrupt cops to drug dealers to ordinary folks trying (and sometimes failing) to stay on the right side.My only criticism is that the storyline is a little simple, linear, one-dimensional. But overall, I really enjoyed it.

Washington DC plays as much of a character in this story as the ensemble cast. It’s not the political DC that we’re usually used to seeing though but the day to day DC of the regular people particularly in the drug affected neighborhoods of the 80s.An enjoyable crime story which builds to a satisfying crescendo at the end.

Prior to a recent visit to the States, I was recommended this as a quintessential Washington novel. It's set a few years ago and I struggled to connect the place around me with the place in the novel although I understand that gentrification has changed Washington quite a bit. It is well-plotted and the male characters leap from the page fully formed. The (very few) female characters are no more than plot devices. It's fast-paced but extremely violent.

Fast moving story line with lots of very different charaters that were well developed, chapter by chapter.Another classic novel from a great author.